o Senor Montijo, at Lucerne, reporting all that he had thus far
done, also referring to Don Hermoso the important question of the
yacht's armament, and somewhat laboriously transcribing the said letter
into cipher.

Jack's business in London was now done; on the following morning,
therefore, he took train back to Newcastle. He called upon Mr Murdock,
his partner, in the evening, explaining the arrangement which he had
made to pay a visit to Cuba, including the rather singular proposal of
Senor Montijo to which he had consented, as to the apparent ownership of
the new yacht; and listened patiently but unconvinced to all Murdock's
arguments against what the canny Northumbrian unhesitatingly denounced
as an utterly hare-brained scheme. The next two days he devoted to the
task of putting all his affairs in order, lest anything serious should
happen to him during the progress of his adventure; and on the third day
Nisbett presented himself, with his consulting naval architect, to
witness the final trials of the yacht before accepting her, on behalf of
Senor Montijo, from the builders. These trials were of a most searching
and exhaustive character, lasting over a full week, at the end of which
came the coal-consumption test, consisting of a non-stop run northward
at full speed, through the Pentland Firth, round Cape Wrath; then
southward outside the Hebrides and past the west coast of Ireland,
thence from Mizen Head across to Land's End; up the English Channel and
the North Sea, to her starting-point. The run down past the west coast
of Ireland, and part of the way up the Channel, was accomplished in the
face of a stiff south-westerly gale and through a very heavy sea, in
which the little craft behaved magnificently, the entire trial, from
first to last, being of the most thoroughly satisfactory character, and
evoking the unmeasured admiration of the naval architect under whose
strict supervision it was performed. Jack was on board throughout the
trial, as the representative of the builders, and his experience of the
behaviour of the boat was such as to fill him with enthusiasm and
delight at the prospect of the coming trip. The contract was certified
as having been faithfully and satisfactorily completed, the final
instalment of the contract price was paid, and Nisbett, on behalf of
Senor Montijo, took over the vessel from the builders, at once
transferring the ownership of her to Jack. Meanwhile a letter had
arrived